356 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



of a whitish colour, and of a rank smell much 

 stronger than that of mushrooms. 



By a chemical analysis, truffles are found to 

 abound in a volatile alkaline salt mixed with 

 oil, upon which their smell depends. They 

 never rise out of the ground, but are found 

 about six inches beneath the surface of the 

 earth. Their extreme rich taste is owing to 

 their not putting forth any stalks : in fact, 

 their principle being united and concentrated 

 in a bulb, must yield a richer and higher 

 flavour than if the juice were dispersed by 

 vegetation, as in other roots and plants. 



Dr. Hatton states, that he has observed 

 little fibres issuing out of some truffles, and 

 insinuating themselves within the soil, which 

 in all probability do the office of roots : they 

 grow of a globular shape, and are supposed 

 to receive their nourishment all round them, 

 which they suck through the fibres men- 

 tioned, or the pores of their bark or rind. 

 Truffles are tender est in the spring, but more 

 easily found in the autumn, although they 

 are then small and deficient in flavour ; the 

 wet swelling them, and the thunder and 

 lightning disposing them to send forth their 

 scent, so alluring to swine : from this cause 

 the ancients thought them produced by 



